Pentagon Using Air Force Base to 'Secretly' Fly Illegal Migrants Across US, Tucker Carlson Reveals
05:32 GMT 15.07.2021 (Updated: 13:20 GMT 06.08.2022)
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The migration crisis shows no sign of abating in the US, with Customs and Border Protection (CBP) revealing last month that they had apprehended more than 180,000 undocumented migrants along the country's southern border with Mexico, the biggest monthly total since April 2000.
The Pentagon is using an Air Force base in Texas to fly illegal migrants on passenger planes for "resettlement" across the United States, Fox News host Tucker Carlson has revealed.
"This show has confirmed that the Biden administration has enlisted the US military to move illegal immigrants secretly around our country", Carlson said, citing an internal email sent in the Laughlin Air Force Base that he obtained.
The news anchor showed off the email sent by Lieutenant Colonel Matthew Burrows, who was stationed at the Laughlin Air Force Base in Texas, in which Burrows explained the situation to his subordinates.
© AFP 2023 / RICH POLKTucker Carlson speaks onstage during Politicon 2018 at Los Angeles Convention Center on October 21, 2018 in Los Angeles, California
![Tucker Carlson speaks onstage during Politicon 2018 at Los Angeles Convention Center on October 21, 2018 in Los Angeles, California Tucker Carlson speaks onstage during Politicon 2018 at Los Angeles Convention Center on October 21, 2018 in Los Angeles, California - Sputnik International, 1920, 07.09.2021](https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e5/07/08/1083335988_0:0:3072:2048_1920x0_80_0_0_2c46b265bc20c3b49547109f57320003.jpg)
Tucker Carlson speaks onstage during Politicon 2018 at Los Angeles Convention Center on October 21, 2018 in Los Angeles, California
© AFP 2023 / RICH POLK
"Over the next few days, weeks, or months you may see passenger aircraft on a ramp transporting undocumented non-citizens. Please review the attached guidance on the issue. Do not take photographs and refrain from posting anything on social media", the letter read.
Referring to the document, Carlson, for his part, said that he wonders where "all these people are going".
"Several times ICE [US Immigration and Customs Enforcement] promised us additional details but in the end we never heard back. Apparently Americans do not have a right to know where foreign nationals are being resettled in their own country", the Fox News host added.
© AP Photo / Julio CortezIn this Friday, March 19, 2021, photo migrants are seen in a green area outside of a soft-sided detention center after they were taken into custody while trying to sneak into the U.S., in Donna, Texas.
![In this Friday, March 19, 2021, photo migrants are seen in a green area outside of a soft-sided detention center after they were taken into custody while trying to sneak into the U.S., in Donna, Texas. In this Friday, March 19, 2021, photo migrants are seen in a green area outside of a soft-sided detention center after they were taken into custody while trying to sneak into the U.S., in Donna, Texas. - Sputnik International, 1920, 07.09.2021](https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e5/04/0e/1082633101_0:0:3072:2048_1920x0_80_0_0_7d1f076a5264a587acbe4cfb9cbefd48.jpg)
In this Friday, March 19, 2021, photo migrants are seen in a green area outside of a soft-sided detention center after they were taken into custody while trying to sneak into the U.S., in Donna, Texas.
© AP Photo / Julio Cortez
ICE used the Laughlin Airbase in 2019, when the federal law enforcement agency transported migrants from one border crossing to another for deportation, in so-called "lateral flights".
Carlson's remarks come after Pentagon spokesman Chris Mitchell confirmed that the Laughlin base is again being used to fly migrants, describing the flights as "non-citizen movement" and an ICE "mission".
US Migration Crisis
The developments unfold as the number of illegal migrants crossing America's southern border continues to increase, with US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) saying it reached a new record high in May, when a total of 180,034 asylums seekers were detained.
The southern border crisis kicked off after President Joe Biden started to reverse the Trump administration's hardline immigration policies, halting construction of a border wall, moving to end "harsh and extreme immigration enforcement", and promising to "restore and expand" the asylum system.
Other steps included rescinding the Trump travel ban and pledging a "path to citizenship" for more than 11 million undocumented immigrants already living in the US.